Four Driving Forces Behind Linux’s Growth
The penguin is soaring high in the IT industry, consistently earning a reputation for high reliability. Linux servers regularly appear as a Fortune 500 company favorite when it comes to solid performance computing and cloud infrastructure deployment.
“More than 7,800 developers from almost 800 different companies have contributed to the Linux kernel since tracking began in 2005,” according to the Annual Linux Development Report by The Linux Foundation.
“Just since the last report, more than 1,000 developers representing nearly 200 companies have contributed to the kernel.”
This expansion is largely driven by the following advancements:
Enterprise Usage
Enterprise owners understand that security and reliability are important for effective deployment of systems and infrastructures. Amazon, Google, BMW, IBM, McDonalds, and Union Bank are just some of the companies using Linux platform.
“For the first time, Microsoft appears on a list of companies that are contributing to the Linux kernel,” said The Linux Foundation. “Ranking at number 17, the company that once called Linux a ‘cancer,’ today is working within the collaborative development model to support its virtualization efforts and its customers.”
The Linux Foundation said that because Linux has reached a state of ubiquity, in which both the enterprise and mobile computing markets are relying on the operating system, Microsoft is clearly working to adapt.
Gaming Platforms
Gaming is penetrating the open-source industry. Recently, Valve ported its Stream to Linux client, which supports a free-to-play game Team of Fortress 2. Valve’s strategic move doubled NVIDIA’s efforts for Linux NVIDIA drivers. Its recent release (GeForce R310) doubles the performance and reduces load times of games running in Linux.
The Steam for Linux Beta client supports the free-to-play game Team Fortress 2. Approximately two-dozen additional Steam titles are now also available for play on Ubuntu
“Additionally, the Steam for Linux Beta client includes Big Picture, the mode of Steam designed for use with a TV and controller, also currently in beta.”
Social Networks
More than eight million users are actively using social networks such as Facebook, which uses a front-end open-source platform that operates under LAMP servers.
Twitter also joined forces with Linux to further develop its social network that caters to more than 4 million users.
“By joining The Linux Foundation we can support an organization that is important to us and collaborate with a community that is advancing Linux as fast as we are improving Twitter,” said Chris Aniszczyk the manager of ppen source at Twitter.
Blogging is also considered an element of social networks that contributes to the Linux growth. The WordPress platform is the most widely used blogging software that also runs in LAMP servers.
There are more than 58 million WordPress users in the blogosphere.
Mobile Platforms
Android devices sell like hotcakes in the marketplace, particularly Samsung devices. It was reported that Samsung sold 56-58 million units between July and September 2012.
“121.3 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (51.9 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in October, up 6 percent since July,” said ComScore.
“Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 53.6 percent market share, up 1.4 percentage points.”
ComScore recently published a report on Android’s performance in the mobile industry, which proves that the increasing demand of mobile technology is one of the driving forces behind Linux growth.